Books Take Home an Oscar!

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore to be exact took Oscar gold home on Sunday February 26, 2012, for Best Animated Short Film. Since their win, I have seen the film for myself and loved it just as much as the Academy voters must have too. William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg co-directed this lovable story; who both shared the stage and acceptance speech on Oscar night. This film marks the first project to come out of the relatively newly formed group called Moonbot Studios located in Louisiana.

I think the beauty of this film is in its intricacies. According to an LA Times post, this film meshed many artistic mediums into what they called a hybrid animation.  The Fantastic Flying Books used more than just computer animation to get the job done. It also incorporated the use of stop-motion animation and traditional hand drawn animation into the film. This short film fits perfectly with this blog’s purpose because it proves that when pencils and vectors mesh, a masterpiece can rise out of it.

Becoming intrigued by the creators of this lovable film, I decided to learn a little more about the studio that brought it life. Through their official website, I discovered that they too had a blogger site called The Lunar Art Adventure. I encourage anyone who loves random sketches and a behind the scenes look at their company to visit it. Through it, I learned that they, as a company, even do functional art, which I find totally amazing. Aside from creating funky chairs and award-winning films, they have also taken a dive into making apps. One of the apps they made even acts as a companion to their winning film, The Fantastic Flying books of Mr. Morris Lessmore; which you can now download at iTunes for your convenience. If you have not guessed yet, I have become a true fan and supporter of this studio’s work and accomplishments. I am definitely eager to see what’s next from this group.

If you’ve seen the film or know of it, I would love to hear what you think; drop us a line.

The Birds Are Back

Pigs, I mean, Birds in Space! Today in a Yahoo! Exclusive, it was announced that the Angry Birds franchise is going to space. If you're a fan of those animated birds as I am, mind you I'll admit I was a late bloomer to the series, then there is no reason why you should not be excited for the fourth installment of the game. They say there will be new physics to deal with, after all they are in space; and also the addition of new birds and some super powers. For the full story, I encourage you to read the article on Yahoo! And if you come by any other news regarding these colorful beds and villainous pigs, please by all means share with the rest by commenting. Until then, we can all look forward to March 22, which is when Angry Birds in Space arrives!

PS Vita is Here!

             The new member of the Sony Playstation family has arrived! And this gamer already likes what he sees. For those who had the original PSP models, you'll notice this new one is slightly larger. The definition of the OLED screen leaves nothing to envy from other systems. And the touch screens, both front and rear, work fantastically. The immediate downside I noticed was, for those who have a collection of UMD games from the predecessor, no games from the previous PSP models are compatible. The only way you can play games you already own is if you bought them through the Playstation Network and going to your download list through the store. I have yet to test out any games so my review on how the PS Vita drives is on hold till then. If anyone has test driven any actual gameplay with the system please let us know what you think. Any comments on the matter are also appreciated. Enjoy!

Fresh out the box!

The Sequel is Actually Better!

I remember when I was younger, not that I'm old by any means now, always hearing that a sequel was never as good as its predecessor. Hearing older folks saying that it was just made to cash in on the success of the previous film, feeling rushed and showing it. Today I am a man of logic, and since logic is considered a study of math, I am a man of numbers. Sequels exist in all artistic mediums, but for this blog I’ll be focusing on animated and gaming sequels. And in both these fields they may just end up being more lucrative than the last.

Animation is a field within film, and just like great sequels exist in live action films so to do they exist within animation. Sure there are countless live action movies that getter better and better, both within the box office and content of the film. Some of those franchises that stand out at the top of my head are The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the Harry Potter franchise. Yet, when it comes to animation the first film that pops into my head is the sequel The Rescuers Down Under that was released in 1990. According to The-Numbers.com, a box office data site, The Rescuers Down Under made almost 3.5 million dollars on its opening weekend. That’s over a 1.4 million dollar difference its 1977 predecessor The Rescuers made on its opening weekend. Success is in the numbers, but in personal taste I too prefer to watch the sequel over the original any day of the week; I find it way more entertaining. There are many more examples you and I can come up with in the field of animation. We can also easily attribute the success of the sequel to the strong support base the original builds and that may be completely true. In the end it comes down to personal taste and that’s ok too.

In the world of video games the same success can be seen. DenofGeek.com has a number of examples where the sequel upgrades significantly on the original. Franchises, like the God of War games have each garnered more acclaim than its predecessor. Usually, an upgrade in the graphics engine allows the games to get better and better, but in this case story plays a huge part of its success. Another franchise most gamers will easily recognize is the Final Fantasy franchise made by Square-Enix. Final Fantasy has been the staple of this company and it solidifies its position within the gaming industry each time a new installment is released. As Den of Geek points out with profiling Final Fantasy 7 as a sequel that stands out, I too have heard many gamers express the same opinion of this specific sequel. The story of this 7^th installment is vast and detailed any fan of RPGs will understand why that is. More recently the release of Final Fantasy 13-2, which is a direct sequel to Final Fantasy 13, already has critics claiming it better than the original. As I find myself halfway through this game I can already say I agree as well. The story and gaming is a lot more enjoyable that the first. Even in actual hardware for gaming tends to beat out the original. The best selling console to date is the Playstation 2, which is if anything else a sequel to the original Sony Playstation system.

All in all, sequels start off with an improved chance to become bigger giants than their predecessors only because the originals have set the bar at that height. If the first of anything were not some sort of viable success then a sequel would not even be brought up on the brainstorming table. In my opinion, one shouldn’t compare the sequel to the original, because the sequel should set out on its own path to greatness. And by doing this sometimes may go into a totally different direction than the first, and that’s ok. For if you expect the sequel to be like the original, then for that, just keep watching or playing the original. If not, then expect to be surprised by the sequel.